Why join the loyalty program of an airline you don't use?

The very notion of a loyalty program suggests that you join the programs of brands you use a lot. When you know how hard it is to achieve an interesting status even when you’re a good customer, why bother with an airline you don’t use much?

Well, against all odds, in the airline industry, it can sometimes be worthwhile to join the frequent flyer program of an airline you’ll hardly ever use!

What do you expect from a loyalty program?

Not everyone expects the same from an airline loyalty program, and we’re going to start there.

Some want to earn miles for travel and upgrades.

Some want a status and the recognition that goes with it.

Some want access to priority lanes and lounges.

But that’s not all.

Some people are loyal to a particular airline, while for others it’s important to benefit from these advantages on as many airlines as possible.

Depending on the objective sought, there are different ways of optimizing membership of a frequent flyer program by leveraging an airline’s alliance membership.

Loyalty program Vs. Alliances

And don’t forget that most airlines are members of alliances, which implies a certain degree of reciprocity when it comes to loyalty programs.

First of all, status recognition. The statutes of a loyalty program (at least the most significant ones) are recognized by the other member airlines of the alliance.

For example, an Air France Gold and Platinum are recognized as “Elite Plus” by all Skyteam member airlines, as are Delta Gold and Diamond.

Secondly, you can earn points in one airline’s frequent flyer program by traveling on another.

Example: I can earn Air France miles and XP by flying Delta.

But beware: not all airlines credit all trips made on partner airlines to their frequent flyer program, and not at the same rate. This is an important parameter to take into account with a tool like Wheretocredit.

You can also use miles from your frequent flyer program to purchase flights on a member airline of the alliance. But beware: many airlines favor members of their own program when it comes to purchasing award tickets, and limit this possibility for members of partner programs.

What all this means is that there’s a difference between where you earn your miles and where you enjoy them, and a smart traveler can make the most of it.

A discounted status is still a status

That’s why it’s important to know what you want to get out of your loyalty program.

Want status and recognition on an airline? Join its loyalty program. An Air France Platinum or Gold will always get more attention on an Air France flight than a Delta or Korean Elite Plus. A Miles&More Senator flying on Lufthansa will always receive more recognition than a Star Alliance Gold from another airline.

Just want to buy some award tickets? Then take the program of the airline you plan to travel with most and on which you’ll be buying your award tickets. There are occasional good deals to buy awards on partner airlines, but the rule is that an airline favors its members when it gives access to inventory or determines the “price” to be paid in miles.

On the other hand, if you just want a status that gives you access to priority lanes and lounges, it might be worth getting out your calculator.

Consider Air France, for example. Do you travel a lot on Air France and would like access to Fast-Tracks and lounges? You don’t necessarily need Gold status; Elite plus status from any Skyteam member airline will do. And perhaps some are easier to achieve than an Air France Gold (although in this case, it must be admitted that the Air France Gold is rather more affordable than the competition).

Are you a Star Alliance or Lufthansa traveller? If Senator status seems (rightly) very difficult to achieve, an equivalent “Star Alliance Gold” status from another Star Alliance airline will offer you the same benefits.

The pros and cons of partner airline status

Let’s remember one thing: each airline will pay a little more attention and offer more benefits, for equivalent status, to members of its loyalty program than to members of partner programs. But is it really what you need?

When I travel on Star Alliance, for example, I mainly take Lufthansa, but also Turkish Airlines and Singapore Airlines when I’m in Asia. The only thing I need are priority lanes and lounges.

Logic would dictate that I try to obtain Senator status with Lufthansa, which in my opinion is much harder to achieve than my Air France planitum. But what I really need is not a Senator, but a Star Alliance Gold equivalent from any airline.

So yes, if I were a Senator, the flight attendants might pay a little more attention to me, and I’d have a few specific advantages on Lufthansa that I don’t have as a member of a partner program. But frankly I don’t care.

I have Star Alliance Gold status on an airline I almost never fly with (in fact I almost did once, but the COVID made me cancel), which is recognized as such by all the alliance airlines and which requires 2 or 3 times less effort to achieve than Senator Lufthansa. What’s more, it offers very attractive “credit” rates for flights with partner airlines (including Lufthansa). So I mostly fly Lufthansa when I’m on Star Alliance…but I put my points elsewhere.

So yes, I’m entitled to a little extra perk and attention on a secondary airline I never fly with. But I have access to the lounges and priority queues of star alliance airlines at a lower cost, because I could never have had a Lufthansa Senator, except perhaps by giving up Air France.

Not all loyalty programs can be used as “bank accounts”.

As someone pointed out to me, “your program is just a passive bank account. You credit your miles to it, you earn status, but in the end you don’t use it”.

Yes, that’s a bit of it. One day I’ll spend my miles, one day I’ll try out their long-haul, which I’ve heard such good things about, but I haven’t had the chance. But it’s mainly a dormant account.

But beware: not all airlines allow you to use their frequent flyer program in this way: some require you to fly a certain number of times a year on the airline in question, in addition to earning a certain number of points/miles. While flying 4 times a year on Turkish Airlines poses no problem whatsoever, on Aegean it’s harder to find the right opportunity.

In short, it can be worthwhile to opt for the loyalty program of an airline you use little or not at all. But this requires a certain number of parameters to be taken into account, and even a fairly precise methodology…which we’ll present to you in a future article.

Photo :ayo888 /istockphoto